Tue, September 01, 2009
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- China Mobile, the world's biggest wireless carrier, launched Monday its own mobile phone operating system that can support its homegrown 3G standard, reported Tuesday's China Daily.
The release of the long-anticipated Ophone platform, the world's first mobile phone operating system developed by a telecom carrier, and the Ophone handsets is seen by analysts as a move that could help China Mobile stabilize its slowing profit growth, the newspaper said.
The move comes less than one week after the country's second biggest wireless carrier China Unicom clinched a deal with Apple to sell iPhones in China. It was expected to intensify competition in the country's 3G market.
The Ophone platform also fills the blanks in China's smart phone operating system, the newspaper said, citing Lou Qinjian, vice-minister of industry and information technology.
The Ophone handsets that can support China Mobile's TD-SCDMA 3Gstandard will come out within this year, the company said, without specifying when.
The release of Ophone may give a boost to China Mobile, analysts said.
According to a survey on www.sina.com.cn, the largest Internet portal in China, 51 percent of the 2,161 respondents said they might buy an Ophone, attracted by its "powerful" mobile Internet connection and application functions, said the newspaper.
